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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 116 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  4. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  7. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  8. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  11. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  17. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  18. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  19. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  20. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. clip — to cut
  3. bark — to shout
  4. wax — for sculpting
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. bark — a dog's sound
  7. drill — a practice
  8. hide — animal skin
  9. degree — from a university
  10. wax — in the ear
  11. snap — to click
  12. kid — child
  13. kid — to tease
  14. snap — to snap out of it
  15. clip — for paper
  16. bark — of a tree
  17. drill — the tool
  18. drill — army training
  19. snap — to speak sharply
  20. hide — to keep secret
  21. degree — an amount
  22. wax — to grow
  23. clip — a video
  24. degree — temperature

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com